The holiday season always seems to just come out of nowhere. As soon as the summer is over, Halloween is right on your doorstep, with Thanksgiving and Christmas not far behind either.
While the holidays are meant for having fun and spending time with your friends and family, they also come with a lot of stress that you could really do without.
Some people use THC-based cannabis products to help out, but the psychoactive properties tend to put many people off. On the other hand, CBD is a very effective method and does not have the same properties.
CBD also comes with a host of benefits, so here’s all you need to know about why you should take CBD to avoid holiday stress.
1. CBD Reduces Anxiety and Stress
There have been several studies that suggest CBD can be used to reduce anxiety and stress in both humans and animals. For example, the University of Sao Paulo found that CBD affects the limbic and paralimbic areas of the brain, resulting in reduced anxiety.
Another study suggests that CBD can enhance brain signalling through serotonin receptors, helping to reduce stress during the holiday periods, while boosting your mood at the same time.
As noted by CBD Kyro, it’s best to use CBD doses that are simple to adjust. To reduce your stress quickly, it’s best to use CBD that will absorb into your bloodstream quickly so you feel the positive effects as soon as possible.
The best way to do this is by using a CBD vape. This is because the vaporised CBD gets inhaled into the lungs, leading to almost instant absorption into the bloodstream. In fact, you may feel the effects in as little as ten minutes through this method. Note that each inhale of the vape will not have a high concentration of CBD, so you may need to take a few drags before you start to feel relaxed.
2. CBD Is Great For Weight loss
It’s hardly a secret that lots of people put on some weight over the holidays, thanks to the eating and drinking. But while CBD won’t prevent you from putting more potatoes on your plate, according to Daily CBD Mag, it is great for weight loss as it can help your body convert fat and regulate insulin levels!
A study by H. J. Parray and J. W. Yun showed that CBD assists with the converting white fat into weight-reducing brown fat. It also promotes noatherogenesisrmal insulin production and sugar metabolism.
The research is still ongoing, but it’s thought that this is because terpenes in cannabis may help to control appetite. Tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) works in the endocannabinoid system, reducing the feeling of “reward” you get from eating. It will also suppress your appetite and may also be good for people suffering from diabetes, but more research is needed to fully understand how it works.
But above all else, CBD best affects appetite by reducing the factors that encourage people to eat an unhealthy lifestyle, such as by easing anxiety (as noted above) and lowering insulin resistance.
Now, ideally, it would seem to be awesome to combine CBD and THCV in the same product to help you lose weight over the holiday period. But this isn’t always the case – mainly due to legal reasons. THCV is closely related to THC, the psychoactive compound found in the marijuana plant, so it is assumed they follow the same guidelines.
If cannabis is legal in your state, you shouldn’t have a problem getting hold of a CBD product containing THCV. Typically you should go for one that has a high THCV strain, perfect for the holiday season.
On the other hand, if cannabis is not legal in your state, you should go for a full-spectrum CBD product. These combine CBD with the full range of terpenes which will help to control your cravings and regulate your blood sugar. You may even find some products that come as part as herbal remedies that will ease your stomach and aid digestion too.
3. CBD Fights Inflammation
The body’s endocannabinoid system is vital for regulating for all sorts of bodily functions, such as mood, physiology and even overall health. Cannabinoids like CBD are a match made in heaven for the endocannabinoid system (as suggested by their very similar name).
According to a study published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine:
“CBD… and its modified derivatives significantly suppress chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain without causing apparent analgesic tolerance in rodents.”
With millions of Americans suffering from inflammatory-related diseases, this news about CBD could not be more welcome – especially during the holiday season when the body’s inflammatory response is on red alert.
This is mainly due to one of the properties of cannabinoids that helps to regulate the immune system. Inflammation is a very normal bodily function. It’s necessary when you have suffered an injury and helps to protect it from suffering further damage – this is why bumps will swell up and your joints feel stiff when they are hurt.
However, when this response is triggered too often, or in excess, it becomes chronic and does more harm to the body than good, leading a range of health problems such as arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
This is where CBD comes in handy over the holidays. It decreases both your immune response and the pain associated with inflammation. This means that people suffering from inflammatory diseases don’t have to worry about feeling pain and discomfort during these special times and can focus on having fun.
Now, there are several different types of CBD products to choose from to deal with inflammation. For minor injuries like sore shoulders and back, topical treatments like CBD salves are the best option for you. They are easy to apply on the painful area and you will feel the benefits over a long period of time.
In terms of dealing with inflammatory diseases, it gets a little more complicated. The best way to use CBD to treat these conditions is combining it with a healthy diet and exercise. The CBD will help to reduce inflammation, but talk to your doctor before adding it to your daily routine.
High-strength CBD products work best for cases of chronic inflammation over the festive season. They last longer than normal CBD products and will keep you calmer and more relaxed.
4. CBD Reduces Pain
This was mentioned as part of the previous point, but it deserves a little more detail. Pain is not welcome over the holidays and more people are looking at ways to treat it, rather than using traditional medication.
CBD is one of the best out there thanks to its analgesic effects. As noted by The Journal of Experimental Medicine, CBD vastly reduces inflammation in mice and rats, resulting in a reduction in pain. The researchers believe that CBD interacts with receptors in the brain, as well as the immune system, to alleviate pain and reduce inflammation.
Now, since pain is linked to inflammation, the best CBD products for inflammation will work just as well for treating overall pain. Again, for areas of localized pain like sore shoulders and bad backs, topical CBD products are the best as you can apply them directly to the affected area. This is essential during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.
For cases of nerve pain or headaches and migraines, CBD tinctures work incredibly well. Taking CBD oil under the tongue is another good option. It takes a little longer to digest but the benefits will last for a while. For pain relief, this is never a bad thing,
5. CBD Helps To Control Symptoms Of IBS
The final reason to take CBD over the holidays is to help control symptoms of IBS. When the holidays come around, you can get lost in the kitchen preparing all sorts of home-made if dishes, as well as coming into contact with people who may have cold-like symptoms.
For those of you that have digestive issues or have weakened immune symptoms, this can result in irregular bowel movements, feeling bloated or even pain.
However, using CBD over the holidays puts these problems to bed. According the Crescolabs, when the CBD activates CB1 receptors, the body undergoes a process called “gastroprotection, reduction of gastric and intestinal motility and reduction of intestinal secretion”.
This means that people with IBS won’t feel their condition and can enjoy the experience as much as everyone else.
There are CBD products out there, like some in this list by Gift Wits, that contain other ingredients that help to treat IBS, such as essential oils and other herbal remedies. Taking CBD via tinctures is then the best way to moderate your intake of CBD and treat your flare-ups.
Conclusion
No matter where you are this holiday season, these five reasons highlight why you should take CBD to avoid the stress of it all. If you have CBD on hand, there’s no reason why you can’t stay healthy and have the time of your life with those closest to you.
As a side note, if you’ve been injured while traveling or on your holiday vacation, seek legal representation from an injury lawyer in Bergen County after getting proper medical attention. It is a complex process to get a claim from your insurance when you get injured while traveling. Let the expert lawyer handle the case to ensure that you are compensated accordingly as per the type of injuries you got and other factors involved.
Author bio: Marina Turea works as content manager at Digital Authority Partners and a huge fan of everything CBD.
